


The Kids Aren't Alright

by Legs (InsanityRule)



Category: Silicon Valley (TV), The Office (US)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-06 04:59:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4208823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsanityRule/pseuds/Legs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes it's hard to tell which is which.</p><p>Jared's brother Gabe has returned from China and Richard agrees to house him while he gets back on his feet, but Richard assumes incorrectly that this is the last surprise the Dunn family has to offer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> donaldjareddunn on tumblr proposed this crossover and here it begins.  
> And I've been listening to too much Fall Out Boy so... title.

He knew something was up because Jared brought him an energy drink.

Normally Jared brings him things all the time, but he’s not a fan of the over-caffeinated beverages Richard is so fond of, so he must’ve done something he thinks will upset Richard if he’s not only agreeing that Richard should have one but also bringing it right to his hand. Still, Richard was a bit tired so he thanked Jared and cracked open the can.

“Richard, do you think Erlich would allow someone to stay here for a visit?”

“Jared, we’ve talked about it. He’s… he understands you don’t have a place to stay since Noah moved. You’re fine staying in my room.”

“Yes, no, it’s not that.” Jared sits down and grabs Richard’s hand and this is definitely not a good sign. “See, um… I know I haven’t told you this before and I don’t want you to be upset that I didn’t share, but,” he takes a deep breath and starts talking really fast, “my brother Gabe is having a hard time and he needs a place to stay and I offered without thinking I’m sorry I’m so sorry he doesn’t have to we can get a-”

Wait.

“Brother?”

“Right. I didn’t mean to keep it a secret, but we lost touch for several years. There was a good chance I would not see him in person again.”

“O-oh but, but now you are?”

“He actually contacted me,” Jared is smiling. “But Richard, I understand if he can’t stay. It’s not my place to offer and if I must I will turn him away.”

“Well, don’t do that,” Richard rubs his thumb across Jared’s knuckles. “What about when we move?”

He was really hoping to get out of the incubator soon. And to actually have privacy. And to be able to sit on the couch and cuddle without someone throwing a lemon at him and shouting no PDA.

Sometimes his friends are complete assholes.

“I was concerned about that. He is… he hit a rather rough patch and has to return to the states.” Jared uses his free hand to rub his face. “It’s a lot to ask of anyone Richard. He’ll understand if-”

“Well um… we were looking for a two bedroom?” He shrugs. “And… and he can help with rent right?”

“I’m certain he will once he finds employment. He has plenty of qualifications in business,” both of them are in the business world? “And he’s perfectly civil. You’ll barely notice he’s there.”

“Yeah, sure, it’ll be cool to, you know, get to know your family.”


	2. Chapter 2

They agreed while it’s not proper etiquette, they would wait until Gabe was in the house to ask Erlich about having him stay over. He’s arriving in the morning with his belongings. Jared assured him Gabe only has one large suitcase which is a lot more depressing than Jared probably realizes. His older brother’s entire life has been reduced to a single suitcase.

Ever since Noah moved and Jared was once again homeless Richard’s room became that place you throw people that don’t have a home. Richard, because even though he’s majority owner he doesn’t have an app or a company but Erlich wouldn’t dream of throwing him out. Jared, because he’s been technically homeless for awhile now. And now Gabe, the mysterious older brother of Jared, the one that maybe lived in China but now he doesn’t, the one that used to be successful but now is unemployed, and the one that just really looks like Jared holy shit.

It’s not identical, he’d be more terrified if they were identical. His hair is a few shades darker and shorter but based on the peppering in his scruff it might be chemical in nature, cheeks more hollow but that may be from lack of food, his ears stick out a bit, and there’s something about his eyes that just strikes Richard as completely-different-from-Jared. And there’s the clothes. Jared would never have his shirt untucked. Honestly he reminds Richard of Gilfoyle except he looks vaguely homeless.

Well he is vaguely homeless so it’s kind of accurate.

“Richard, this is my brother, Gabe.” Gabe offers a hand and Richard shakes. Gabe’s trembling and he’s not sure how to bring that up without embarrassing either of them. Jared places a hand on Gabe’s shoulder and Richard hopes it helps. He knows it helps him.

He didn’t realize Jared was the taller brother until he did that.

And then Richard sees it, he can see the difference. It’s the emotion. Jared, even when he’s upset or angry or tired, is brimming with emotions and feeling and even if his face doesn’t show it his eyes do. But Gabe’s eyes.

Gabe’s eyes look like glass. Smooth and pretty, but emotionless and hollow. But Jared’s so happy to show Gabe around and offer him some granola bars and water with the promise that they’ll go out for pizza or some other food once he’s settled into his temporary bed in Richard’s room.

“Richard, where will Gabe be sleeping?”

“Oh, um well there’s always couches but… but Gilfoyle and Dinesh keep staying up late playing Call of Duty. And… and with Erlich out of sight might be better. Maybe um… well, he could use the lofted bed and we can share the bottom one.”

He and Jared wedged a futon underneath Richard’s bed when it became clear that Jared would be there long term and that Richard was actually pretty excited about that prospect. His desk became a fixture in the sitting room and things worked out fine.

But right now things aren’t fine? Jared’s looking a bit shocked. As is Gabe. Not quite the enthusiastic agreement he hoped.

“Um… why would you two share a bed?”

And here’s where Richard realizes that reconnecting with your brother doesn’t mean you’ve told him you’re dating this random guy standing in front of him.

“Wh- um… we don’t. We don’t. I… I just… I don’t sleep um… ever. So I don’t need a bed.”

That was convincing.

“No, I get it, Ricky?”

“Richard.” If he keeps saying it he won’t get attacked right?

“Richard. Just please don’t do anything when I’m sleeping above you.” Richard doesn’t think his eyes can open any wider than they are. “Jared which way is the bathroom?”

“Right down the hall, that way. I can show you if you like?”

“I’ll be fine.” Gabe quickly shuffles out of the kitchen.

Richard shakes his head and coughs. “So uh… I am so sorry did I just out you to your brother?”

“Sort of, but don’t be upset Richard. I was planning on telling him in person while he was here. He’s very understanding of relationships considered to be ‘outside the norm’.”

“Right. Still, sorry about that.”

“I’m… oh, are you feeling alright Gabe?”

Gabe’s probably not feeling alright based on his expression. Jared starts his motherly fussing, odd considering he’s the younger of the two, and Richard is about to offer some support when Dinesh walks into the kitchen, freezes, and drops his grocery bags.

“Uh, so this is Gabe.” Richard does this dorky Vana White gesture he knows he looks like an idiot. “Jared’s brother.”

There’s some eggs rolling across the floor and Gilfoyle steps on one. “What the hell did you… what the fuck is going on.”

“Ho boy.” Richard rubs his face and starts over.


	3. Chapter 3

“So what you’re saying is the universe thought it was a good idea to make two of them.” Gilfoyle asks, or states, it’s hard to tell.

Richard turns back to Jared and Gabe sitting at the kitchen table, watching as Jared smiles and touches his brother’s shoulder and lets Gabe hold his (probably cool) hand to his forehead. He’s ushered Dinesh and Gilfoyle back into the workspace to give Gabe some breathing room. Richard knows what being overwhelmed looks like; he’s felt it many times before.

“I uh… I guess so.”

“This is all kinds of fucked up.” Thank you Dinesh that’s really helpful. “The world didn’t need the first one.”

“Well actually Gabe’s the older bro- hey. Guys you said you’d stop ragging so much.”

Dinesh shakes his head. “Yeah we never said that.”

“Richard!” Oh fuck his life why is Erlich home already? “Why are there two Jareds at my kitchen table?”

“It’s Jared’s brother.”

“Holy fuck there’s two of them?”

“Exactly what I asked earlier,” Gilfoyle adds, “the universe took a shit on this house.”

“When’s he leaving?”

“About that, um,” damn it Jared is way better at this. “He needs a place to stay for awhil-”

“No fucking way.”

“It’s… we’re moving soon, he’ll stay out of the way, I’ll… I’ll keep him out of your yogurt okay? Just, please, please let him stay.”

If Erlich was going to protest he doesn’t get a chance because Jared walks in with Gabe close by. “Everyone, I’d like to introduce my older brother Gabriel. He prefers to be called Gabe.”

For a brief moment Gabe’s eyes show signs of life, but they dull just as quickly when no one speaks up. But it’s not his fault. Adding new people into this group is like pouring water into acid. And he’s Jared’s brother so he’s already fighting an uphill battle to gain everyone’s approval.

Erlich speaks up first. “Any relation to the coffee people?” Both Gabe and Jared tilt their heads in confusion and it’s kind of cute. “Dunn Brothers people get with the program.”

“He actually prefers the surname Lewis,” Jared explains. “It’s actually-”

“Donald kept our father’s name.” Jared winces and shakes out his head a bit.

“Yes, well, it’s not all that abnormal-”

“Your picture is by the word abnormal in the dictionary, Jared.” Erlich snaps.

Richard laughs. “There aren’t pictures in the dictionary. That’s an encyclopedia.”

“You’re going by Jared now?” Well this is great Jared didn’t explain that one to Gabe yet. It’s so nice to have Jared’s brother here.

“O-kay,” Jared does this weird lean back; he’s looking a bit distressed. “Maybe I should start some dinner.”

Gilfoyle nods to Dinesh, not a good sign, and the two hurry to their computers and start typing. “Gabe Lewis.”

“Yes?”

“Gabriel Susan Lewis?” Erlich snorts. Jared steps back beside Gabe.

“You legally changed your name to our mother’s? Gabe shrugs and Jared frowns. “I should go start dinner now.”

This is going about as well as Richard expected.  
“Are you both Googling me?”

Dinesh exclaims, “we have a LinkedIn! You worked for Sabre. Didn’t they go bankrupt or something?”

“I was let go during a buyou-”

“How was it being a male sex worker in China?”

“What?” Gabe crosses his arms. “I-”

Gilfoyle explains,” hired out to corperations-”

“No it’s not like that. Companies in China place status in-”

 

“It’s okay if you’re a sex worker we won’t judge.” Dinesh assures him but it feels like a dig.

Why did he think this was a good idea?

“So let me guess,” Erlich takes a his from his scramble bong, “now you’re a freeloader-”

“Is that marijuana?”

Erlich pulls the bong closer to his chest. “Why?”

Gabe makes a motion for Erlich to hand it over, and after a bit of hesitation he gives Gabe the bong. They all watch this scruffy, gloomy guy take a big hit and slowly release the cloud of smoke at the ceiling. He hands Erlich the maze and straightens as Jared re-enters the room.

“Is soup okay? I know your stomach was a bit upset earlier.”

“Sous sounds fine.” Jared nods and ducks back into the kitchen. “Does it still work as a maze or is it only a bong?”

“Yeah, uh… it gets hard to see the ball but it works.”

Well this is an unexpected development.

“Would you mind sharing another?”

“Sure.”

He’s beginning to wonder what else he doesn’t know about Gabe, and as he watches him smoke with Erlich he realizes he’s afraid to find out.


	4. Chapter 4

Gabe manages about half a bowl of potato soup before admitting to Jared and Richard that he hasn’t been eating much recently, and the granola bars are the first thing he’s eaten in nearly three days. Jared hugs Gabe and assures him he can eat anything in the house, but that he should rest for now. Richard’s been tasked with keeping an eye on Gabe while he naps, which means he’s just sitting at his desk, and Jared is working on laundering all of Gabe’s clothing.

And of course Erlich is giving Richard some company, because he’s so thoughtful.

“I don’t trust him Richard.”

“You said the same thing about Jared.”

“I think I mean it this time.”

“Wait, so… you didn’t mean it before?” This is news to Richard. He presses his lips together. “What were you jealous or-or-”

“Shut up Richard and listen. This guy, we know less about him than Jared. A personal feat for anyone.”

“He was in China.”

“His LinkedIn says he was in China. Do you know how easy it is to lie on those? Because I do. I have seven profiles.”

“Why the fuck-”

“Business strategy.” And then he just takes a hit like that made perfect sense.

“Well what if he didn’t lie?”

“Oh, he definitely lied. He knows his pot Richard. He can’t be trusted.”

What the fuck. “Doesn’t… you know pot-”

“But you know me Richard. What if he’s not even Jared’s brother? This could be a classic Nic Cage Face Off scenario.”

“How high are you?”

“Very. Not important.”

“Yeah well… Just keep the pot thing quiet. I don’t, he probably didn’t tell Jared and…” He’s not sure why he’s protecting Gabe’s secret, but it feels like he and Jared are the only decent people he has in his life. He doesn’t want to mess that up.

“Richard?” Jared quietly joins him and Erlich. “I’ve completed Gabe’s laundry. A few items needed mending but they should be good as new.” He looks over at Gabe and smiles. “Thank you for your help.”

Richard shrugs. “I didn’t do much.”

Jared leans in and kisses him. “You did plenty.” He turns and walks to the couch.

“Absolutely disgusting.” Erlich makes a gagging noise. “Exibitionists.”

Richard rolls his eyes. Erlich’s been giving them crap ever since he found out they’re dating. He watches as Jared kneels by the couch and begins rubbing his hand across Gabe’s shoulder blades. Gabe stretches and buries his face in the throw pillow.

“If you would like to bathe the bathroom is currently unoccupied.” Jared steps back and Gabe silently pushes himself up off the couch and leaves the room. “Richard did he sleep alright?” Ah, he understands now, Jared is in full doting brother mode and he’s worried about Gabe. Richard doesn’t blame him.

“He uh, he slept fine. China’s fifteen hours ahead of us so normally he’d be asleep right now.”

“It could take some time to adjust then.” He turns to Erlich. “I need to thank you properly Erlich for allowing my brother to stay. All three of us should be out of your hair by the end of the month if I’m not mistaken.”

Richard nods. “Yep, end of the month.”

God he hopes they can actually move then.

“Well I,” Richard glares at Erlich. It’s probably not very menacing. “Keep your friends close.”

“Oh good!” Jared’s grinning. Maybe he doesn’t know the ending to that saying. “I’m going to go to the store. I promised Dinesh I would replace his eggs.” He hugs the both of them and kisses Richard. “I’ll try to be back quickly.”

“Sure.”

“Richard there are two sequoia trees in my home and one tiny redhead lumberjack that better get them out fast.”

“My hair isn’t really that red, just a few highlights-”

“Who gives a fuck Richard just handle it.”

Instead he messes around on his laptop until Gabe appears in the sitting room in only a towel. Richard can’t really get his mouth to form words because he was not ready for Gabe to just appear out of nowhere like that. He’s not super comfortable with strangers being naked, or being naked himself. “Wh-why?”

“What?” Gabe rubs his facial hair.

“You’re,” naked? Terrifyingly thin? Standing really uncomfortably close? “Do you want clothes?”

“Yes. I’m rather uncomfortable with nudity but I wasn’t sure where D-Jared put them.”

“He said he did your laundry.”

“Ah.” Gabe’s trying to cover himself with his arms and keep his towel from falling off. Not going as well as he hopes.

So this is what it feels like to meet your boyfriend’s family. He wouldn’t recommend it. “I’ll go. I’ll… I’ll find your clothes.”

Gabe was shivering when he left the room. When Richard locates a small laundry basket in his room he digs through it until he finds a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants. He can’t bring himself to touch Gabe’s briefs so he hopes he doesn’t mind going commando.

After Gabe changes the two of them settle into a long awkward silence while they wait for Jared to return.

“So you’re a CEO?”

Richard winces. “I was. I um… I still own majority but I got fired.”

Gabe sits closer. “What was it like? The power?”

“Um… stressful. Really stressful. I vomited all the time.” Yes, that was exactly what he meant to say to Gabe. Good. When he jumps off a building Jared will have Gabe to comfort him.

“Stress is rather difficult. Personally I recommend orgasm.”

How are they both so awkward? It’s not even the same kind of awkward. Gabe’s so crass and blunt, Jared’s overly sincere and honest.

Okay they aren’t that different.

He waits until Gabe decides to break the silence. “He wants to be called Jared now?”

“He um… I guess. I’ve only known him as Jared.”

Gabe nods. “I can do that.”

“His old boss called him Jared and it stuck I guess.”

Gabe nods. “When someone gives you a chance to reinvent yourself, you take it.”


	5. Chapter 5

All he wanted was one good night’s sleep, but  _ no _ , Richard can’t have nice things in his life. It’s three in the morning and he’s puttering around in the kitchen, groggy and unhappy but definitely  _ awake _ , and he knows his night is fucked but at least he can get rid of the growling coming from his stomach. There’s a couple tupperware containers of Jared’s soup leftover from dinner; Richard starts warming it up, hyper focused on the slowly turning bowl in the microwave, when a hand taps his arm and he nearly pisses his pants.

“Sorry,” it’s Gabe, just Gabe, and he’s not about to kill Richard in the middle of the night. Everything is fine. “Is there any more soup?”

“Uh, yeah, totally,” Richard waves his arm towards the container, still half full, he left on the counter by the stools, “do you want any?”

A wonderfully awkward silence overcomes the kitchen as Richard directs Gabe to the bowls and the two sit around waiting for the second helping of soup to reach palatable temperatures. Richard isn’t sure if he should eat or wait, manners don’t really cover the whole ‘mysterious brother of your boyfriend also wants soup at three in the morning’ etiquette, but he opts for the more considerate option of letting his bowl slowly cool to somewhere between hot and lukewarm while Gabe waits for his helping.

After the bowl is ready Gabe sets it on the table and disappears to another part of the house, and since it’s Gabe’s fault that he’s not eating Richard decides to start spooning soup into his mouth. Shortly after his second spoonful Gabe returns with Erlich’s scramble bong, and the two continue to eat while Gabe takes a few deep inhales between bites.

“Do you smoke a lot of pot?”

“It calms me down.” Richard wishes pot had the same effect on him but the last time Erlich somewhat forcibly shared his stash with the rest of the house Richard spent the evening sitting in the bathroom with all the lights on, paranoid someone was going to try and strangle him with a tie. Needless to say, he hasn’t tried again. “Erlich has a fairly large stash in the house.”

“He got a med card,” Richard explains, and it’s probably questionably legitimate but Richard assumes Erlich has at least some validity to his ‘migraine’ claim that got him the card in the first place. “You could get one, probably. If you’re sticking around.”

Gabe sighs. “I might, get a card, I don’t know about sticking around here. This isn’t exactly how I imagined my life would be like at 34.”

So Gabe is about six years older. Mental note taken. “Well, I didn’t really expect to be fired from my own company, so, you know, same river, different boat.”

Richard accepts the awkward silence he’s caused because what the hell just came out of his mouth; that isn’t a saying in any country, ever.

“Richard?” Shit that’s Jared. Gabe scrambles to hide the bong while Richard intercepts Jared in the hallway. “Oh, were you having trouble sleeping?”

“A little, um… me and Gabe were just having some soup. You know, midnight snack.” Gabe walks past them, waving as he walks down the hall to Richard’s room. “I’m alright, just, can we go back to bed?”

“Of course.”

Gabe’s already crawled back up into the loft when they get back into the bedroom. If he’s still awake he doesn’t say anything, and it’s probably for the best. Richard isn’t sure if Gabe is chill or goofy when he smokes, but he also doesn’t want Jared to feel disappointed in his brother when they just reunited. Mostly though, Richard knows if he stays awake for too much longer he’s going to blab to Jared about his brother being high.

They crawl into the futon together and if either of them can hear any sniffling from the loft they decide to keep their thoughts to themselves.

-

In the morning Jared leaves to head into Pied Piper and be generally productive and a contributing member of society and Richard agrees to take the day off so one of them can be around for Gabe. Richard just sits around at his computer absentmindedly playing Fez until Gabe appears looking bleary-eyed and groggy at one in the afternoon.

“Richard, what time is it?”

“Um,” he pauses and minimizes long enough to look at his screen, “one, little bit after.”

“Right, okay, that’s a bit later than I intended.” Gabe pulls a chair over to Richard’s desk. “Richard, I’m sorry if my presence prevented you from partaking of any sexual activities before Don-Jared left for work this morning. In the future just let me know about what time I should get out of bed. I like to be accommodating when someone extends a kindness to me.”

Richard quietly sets down his controller and hopes his expression does not give away the terrified screaming he’s currently doing in his head.

“I… that's…” he tries to get a coherent sentence strung together but his brain won't cooperate. “The uh…” his computer chimes as he gets a request to chat, “I should, this,” he points and opens up Hooli chat. Gabe nods and leaves the room.

“Hey Richard,” Bighead, thank fuck, “how's it going? Thought you'd be at work or something.”

“Um, no, yeah. I mean… I took the day off.”

“Cool cool, wish  _ I  _ had that kind of time,” didn't he just call Richard  _ during  _ the work day? “Busy over here at Hooli, with XYZ and all.”

“Yeah I bet.”

“Listen,” Bighead fuzzes in and out of clarity for a second, not a good sign, “I'm real sorry about the arbitration or whatever. They asked me to just answer some stuff-”

“It's okay. The new CEO… she's nice, and she listens when I have concerns, so… yeah. Could be way worse.”

Even though he's  _ super  _ intimidated by Tara she knows what she's doing, so that's a pretty nice silver lining.

“A-a-awesome.” The screen stutters and Bighead gets all pixelated. “So, I should probably get back to work.” Or sitting around by the looks of things. “See you… oh hey Jared.”

Richard turns around and sees Gabe, not Jared, holding a small bowl of soup. “Oh, this isn't Jared.”

Bighead nods, but he starts looking lost partway through a nod. “That's  _ not  _ Jared. Are you feeling okay dude?”

“Yeah, I'm fine, this is Gabe.”

“ _ Not _ Jared.”

“His brother.” He scoots over so Gabe can pull up a chair. “He's staying with us until… he's relocating.”

Bighead is still obviously wrapping his head around this concept. “Okay so, his  _ brother _ , okay. You guys look a lot alike.”

“We all do.”

Richard bookmarks that comment to deal with later  _ after  _ Bighead is off Hooli chat. “So, yeah, brothers.  _ Not _ the same person.”

“Cool. Hey, dude, you need a job in the area or something? Could always come work at Hooli.”

Richard side-eyes Gabe and watches as the traitor nods. “I have a degree in business. And  _ years  _ of experience. As an added bonus, my “ghastly” appearance to scare people into working harder.”

Richard remembers a certain “ghostly appearance” comment the first time Jared came to the incubator and wonders if  _ both _ of them heard the same shit from their uncle. Loving family moments.

“Well if you want I can out in a good word or something. I don't know what it is about this place but they  _ love  _ me. The board keeps asking me about my experience managing a team or whatever. No clue what that's about.”

Richard keeps his mild heart attack to himself. Not that Bighead isn't great and all, but there is no way  _ in hell _ Bighead is qualified to run Hooli if he can't even figure out that's  _ why  _ the board is asking about his work experience. He isn't even qualified to do the job he has  _ now _ .

“Shoot, I gotta go. We're firing the new cannon today and I do  _ not  _ want to miss that. Later Richard. Gabe.”

He signs off, and Richard rubs his face. “How often were the management teams around you completely unqualified for their jobs?”

Gabe's expression darkens, but he laughs, “my old boss at Dunder-Mifflin was a  _ complete  _ fool. I have no idea  _ how  _ he didn't bankrupt the company singlehandedly.”

“You're really going to try and work for Hooli? Jared was miserable there.”

“Your friend isn't, and Jared's always been a bit of a tenderheart about these sorts of things. I've worked for large companies in the past, and unlike Jared I'm not concerned about dating or anything frivolous like that,” except this is the most emotion his eyes have had in days and he looks heartbroken. “No, Gabriel Susan Lewis will date when he's dead.”

Jesus, Gabe makes Jared look well adjusted in comparison.


End file.
